When planning for your Western BBQ blow-out, be sure to put a lot of consideration into the food and beverage menu. Since the title of your get-together has “BBQ” in it, your guests are going to come hungry and prepared to eat some delicious food. Satisfy their hunger with an assortment of foods you can cook on the grill that you can also add a western twist to. Here are some ideas on appetizers, maid dishes, desserts and beverages you can serve at your Western BBQ party!

Appetizers

Western Quesadillas (2 quesadillas)

What you’ll need:

• 
  1 large white onion, sliced
• 8 oz. steak, sliced – It’s easiest to prepare your steak the night before the event to cut down on time
• 3 tablespoons your favorite barbecue sauce
• 2 jalapenos, diced
• ¾ cup of cheddar cheese, shredded
• 4 flour tortillas
• Taco sauce

As previously stated, it saves time and work when you prepare your steak the night before. Prepare it how you would normally prepare it, then let it sit in the refrigerator overnight until you are ready to make the quesadillas.

To make the quesadillas, heat a large, non-stick skillet over the stove on medium high heat. Drizzle the pan with vegetable oil. Once the vegetable oil begins to simmer in the pan, add the sliced onions to the skillet and cook for about 8 minutes, or until they are brown and tender. After this, add your cooked steak to the skillet and stir the mixture for a few minutes. Once the steak is hot, add the barbecue sauce of your choice and mix it around the skillet until everything in the skillet has a coating of barbecue sauce.

Lay out your 4 flour tortillas and spread the taco sauce evenly over each one. Take the contents from your skillet and spread them out evenly onto just 2 of the tortillas. Top off the 2 tortillas with shredded cheese and diced jalapenos. Place one of each of the other tortillas, with the taco sauce on them, directly on top of the loaded tortillas. Place the quesadilla, one at a time, in the skillet to lightly toast each side of the quesadilla.

Cut up the quesadilla into little triangle pieces and serve with sour cream and the barbecue sauce of your choice! 

Corn and Bean Salsa

What you’ll need:

• 1 can of yellow corn
• 1 can of black bans
• 1 can of black-eyed peas
• 1 can of tomatoes, diced
• ½ cup of green pepper, chopped
• ½ cup of white onion, chopped
• ½ cup of jalapeno pepper, diced
• 1 8 oz. bottle of Italian salad dressing
• ½ teaspoon of garlic salt

Make this salsa the night before the party so all of the ingredients can sit together and create more flavor.

To make this salsa, first drain all of the canned items, them place them into a giant mixing bowl, stirring them a tiny bit. Next, add the green pepper, onion and jalapeno pepper into the mixing bowl and stir all of the ingredients together. Now add the Italian salad dressing and the garlic salt and stir until all of the mixture is coated. Stick the bowl of salsa into the refrigerator overnight and serve the next day with your choice and style of tortilla chips.

Other Western-themed appetizers you can serve at your party are deviled eggs and watermelon, or any type of fruit salad.

 

Beverages

Ciderhouse Whiskey

What you’ll need:

• 2 oz. bourbon
• 1 oz. boiled cider syrup
• 1 shred of lemon zest
• Ice

Mix the bourbon and cider syrup in a glass over ice and stir. Add the lemon zest and you have yourself a Western cocktail!

 

Cowboy Cosmo

What you’ll need:

• 1 ½ oz. silver tequila
• 1 oz. triple sec
• 2 oz. cranberry juice
• ½ oz. fresh lime juice
• Ice
• Lime wedge

Pour all of the ingredients, except the lime wedge, into a cocktail shaker. Shake the mixture well and then pour into the glass of your choice—typically martini glasses are used to serve cosmos, but you may be using tin mugs and mason jars to serve drinks at your western party. Top off you drink with a lime wedge and serve.

You can also serve beer and other whiskey or tequila cocktails at your Western BBQ. Serve iced tea and lemonade for non-alcoholic drink options. 

 

Entrées

Western Cheeseburger Sliders (12 sliders)

What you’ll need:

• 
  2 lbs. of hamburger meat
• 12 dinner rolls
• 6 sandwich slices of cheddar cheese, cut in half
• 1 bottle of the barbecue sauce of your choice
• 1 can/bag of crispy onion strings (you can also make your own)

Separate the hamburger meat into 12 tiny round burger patties, making sure they are all evenly sized. Add salt and pepper, or whatever seasoning you wish to add to your meat before grilling. Top each mini burger with a small layer of barbecue sauce. Cook these patties on the grill, flipping them once the one side looks cooked.

Once the mini burgers are grilled and cooked to perfection, slice open each dinner roll to create a bun, buttering each interior side of the bun. Place each of the patties on one side of the buttered bun and top with the ½ slice of cheddar cheese, a dollop of barbecue sauce, and finish with the crispy onions. Now place the other end of the bun on top of the burger and serve your delicious Western Cheeseburger Sliders! 

 

Pulled Pork Sliders (12 sliders)

What you’ll need:

• 
  3 tablespoons of ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons of packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons of paprika
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 6 lbs. Boston butt (pork)

 

• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire pepper
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
• ½ cup of water

 

• 1 bottle of the barbecue sauce of your choice
• 12 dinner rolls/mini hamburger buns
• Coleslaw

Marinate the pork overnight. Mix the black pepper, brown sugar, paprika and cayenne pepper into a bowl. Lay down the pork and pour it into the pork, pressing the seasoning into the pork. Cover the pork and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, mix the vinegar, Worcestershire pepper, salt, vegetable oil and water into a small mixing bowl and set aside.

Heat the grill or oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and place the pork on that rack, wrapped in foil (or covered in foil if it’s in the oven). Cook the pork until the internal temperature reaches to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, brushing the previously made mixture onto the pork every 45 minutes or so.

Once the pork is cooked, toss it into the barbecue sauce of your choice and divide evenly onto the mini burger buns or cut dinner rolls. Top each one with coleslaw, or set it to the side to let guests add it to their pork as they wish.

 

Easy-to-make side dishes that will go well with either of these sliders are baked beans, corn on the cob, potato salad, and cornbread.

For your Western BBQ desserts, make s’mores around the bonfire as a nightcap, or continue the BBQ theme with grilled peach slices and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.